Virginia’s Department of Elections campaign finance database reflected corrections on Tuesday in finance reports for two anti-redistricting political action committees, after a former Republican delegate from Roanoke found himself in the middle of a controversy surrounding campaign materials over the weekend.
As of Tuesday, there was no campaign finance report for a third PAC, Democracy and Justice, in Virginia’s reporting database.
The PAC became widely known after a mailer landed in mailboxes across the state over the weekend that Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said misuses imagery from the Civil Rights Movement and invokes the Jim Crow era.
Democracy and Justice PAC is responsible for those campaign flyers, which set off a firestorm of condemnation from statewide groups and elected officials, including the NAACP Virginia State Conference, who called the material printed on the cardstock offensive and racist.
A campaign contribution of $10,000 from former Republican Del. William Fralin, of Roanoke, was corrected Tuesday in the state campaign reporting system to show that it was given to No Gerrymandering Virginia PAC. His contribution had previously been listed on the campaign finance report for Justice for Democracy PAC, which many online conflated with Democracy and Justice, the PAC listed on the controversial mailers.
Corrections to the campaign finance reports were submitted in an effort to clear Fralin’s name, after he found himself in the middle of the controversy over the weekend.
All three PACs, Democracy and Justice, Justice for Democracy, and No Gerrymandering Virginia, were organized in an effort to oppose mid-decade congressional redistricting in Virginia. All three PACs had employed Christopher Woodfin as treasurer. No Gerrymandering Virginia PAC is not affiliated with either Democracy and Justice PAC or Justice for Democracy PAC, Brian Cannon, head of No Gerrymandering Virginia PAC, said in an interview on Monday.
A copy of the statement of organization provided by Woodfin on Monday afternoon for two of the PACs — Democracy and Justice and Justice for Democracy — listed former Republican Del. A.C. Cordoza of Hampton as the chairman. Cordoza claimed the chairmanship for both the Justice for Democracy PAC and the Democracy and Justice PAC in a statement on Monday. The two PACs are separate organizations, though Cordoza chairs both, Woodfin said.
The statements of organization for the two PACs were amended to add Cordoza as chair after the controversy broke. Woodfin insisted that Cordoza was the chair “from the start,” however. Cordoza is African American.
No campaign finance report for Democracy and Justice is a problem
Cannon estimated the cost to print and mail out campaign flyers statewide could run upwards of $50,000.
Large contributions or loans of $10,000 or more are required to be reported by a PAC to the state Department of Elections within 3 days of receipt of the money. Smaller contributions are required to be reported on a quarterly schedule, according to Virginia code.
That amount would need to be listed either as a monetary or in-kind contribution on a campaign or PAC finance report, in order to comply with state code.
Neither Woodfin nor the Virginia Department of Elections responded when asked why Democracy and Justice, the PAC responsible for the controversial flyers, showed no campaign finance reports in the state database.
Internet sleuths attempted to connect dots over the weekend regarding who or what funded the organization that sent the flyers, with scant information available on the state campaign finance reporting website at the time.
The lack of publicly available information led some on social media to tie the PAC listed on the flyer’s paid-for-by line, Democracy and Justice, to the similarly named organization: Justice for Democracy PAC. A campaign report for Justice for Democracy PAC, which was formed less than a week ago, showed one large donation from one person — $10,000 from Fralin.
That money had been misreported, according to Fralin, Cannon, Woodfin and the Department of Elections. No Gerrymandering Virginia cut ties with Woodfin on Saturday, in the midst of the controversy after the error was discovered, Cannon said.
Campaign finance reports for both the Justice for Democracy PAC and the No Gerrymandering Virginia PAC were updated on Tuesday.